Western Daily Press (Saturday)
AlexanderArnold: I’m gutted to be missing out
TRENT Alexander-Arnold has revealed that he is “absolutely gutted” to miss the European Championship through injury.
The England defender was ruled out of the finals after suffering a thigh injury late on in Wednesday’s 1-0 friendly success over Austria in Middlesbrough.
Alexander-Arnold, whose place in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad had been a topic of hot conversation since the announcement earlier this week, took to Twitter to express his heartbreak at the situation, simply writing: “Absolutely gutted.”
The Liverpool defender had been omitted for a triple-header of World Cup qualification matches in March.
He returned to the provisional 33-man squad last week and made the cut for the Euros as one of four right-backs alongside Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Reece James.
But now Southgate must decide who to draft in to replace AlexanderArnold, with standby players Ben Godfrey, Ben White, James WardProwse, Jesse Lingard and Ollie Watkins in contention.
The choice will be made after the friendly against Romania tomorrow, with further injury problems always a possibility.
Meanwhile, ex-England defender Martin Keown believes Southgate should revert to a three-man backline if Harry Maguire is not fit.
Southgate included Maguire in his 26-man squad for the finals despite the Manchester United defender’s struggles with an ankle injury.
Maguire is unlikely to feature in the opening group game against Croatia at Wembley on June 13 and Southgate has cast doubt on when the 28-year-old may be in contention.
With Maguire out, John Stones is the only recognised central defender with more than ten senior England caps – with Conor Coady of Wolves and Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings relative newcomers to international football. With that in mind, Keown believes the best course of action would be for Southgate to once again move to a back-three and operate the same system which saw England reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
“Maguire is playing in an area on the pitch where we are developing players but we are short of players,” he said. “Both starters at centre-half, I only counted 12 caps between them before the Austria game, so that was quite an inexperienced pair.
“If Maguire doesn’t make it then with the players Gareth has picked he should shift back to a back-three. He he could do that to great success.
“So it’s a big miss if he is not there and it is about changing the system to a back-three because he is that important.”